April 20 in A.A. History

In 1936, Frank Buchman, founder of the Oxford Group, was featured on the cover of Time magazine [right]. However, the accompanying article was not favorable. Near the end, it stated:

    Until a religion grows up, it is a cult. Buchmanism is about 20 years old, a mere infant in the range of religious history. It still rallies around one man and its methods are still highly unorthodox.

In 1941, Lois W. left for a six-week cruise to South America with Fan Williamson, a descendant of Albert V. Moore, who founded the shipping company Moore-McCormack Lines, Inc. Fan invited Lois on this trip as a gesture of gratitude for helping her son, Chris, get sober while living with Bill and Lois at 182 Clinton St. in Brooklyn. Lois described Fan as “kind and charming,” while  Bill affectionately referred to her as “Ironsides.” They had met Fan while staying in the Green Pond cottage that Chris had lent them during their two years of homelessness, which began in April 1939 and was just coming to an end. Notably, Fan and Lois were the only passengers on the ship [left: the USS Mermactide, a Moore-McCormack ship that sailed from New York City to South America and back around this time].
    Helen Griffith—no relation to Bill—had recently sold Bill and Lois a house in Bedford Hills, New York, on very generous terms, effective May 1st. Since that was also the departure date for Fan and Lois, Helen allowed them to move into the house early. They named the place “Bi-Lo’s Break.” Bill stayed there during Lois’s cruise, relying on the fireplace as his only source of heat. Unfortunately, he caught a “bad cold,” which would lead to a near disaster that Lois did not learn about until her return.

 

In 1970, as he did every April, Bill W. [right] addressed the assembled General Service Conference delegates and many guests at the opening dinner held at the Hotel New Yorker in New York City. Bob H., the General Manager of the General Service Office at the time, later recalled what happened:  

He started to speak, and of a sudden he just stopped, right in the middle of the sentence. And he just stood there for a little bit, and then said, “I’m sorry. I can’t continue.” And he went and sat down. Everybody was really taken aback at this, because if there was one thing Bill could always do, it was speak—eloquently and articulately and persuasively.

Today in A.A. History—April 20–22

In 1951, the first experimental General Service Conference (GSC) convened at the Hotel Commodore [left, c. 1940] in New York City, with 37 area delegates, 15 trus­tees, and 10 staff members from the Alcoholic Foundation Office and Grapevine. The Conference recognized that only half of the Areas were represented; as a result,

    Disposition of a number of problems was deferred until next year when representatives of the second panel will join the Conference.

Among the six advisory actions was this unanimously-approved one:

    [T]hat in future years A.A. textbook literature should have Conference approval.…

This was followed by a note:

    [This would not preclude the continued [printing of] documents by non-Foundation sources. No desire to review, edit or censor non-Foundation material is implied.

Today in A.A. History—April 20–24

In 1960, the 10th GSC convened at the Roosevelt Hotel [left, c. 1940] in New York City.
    The Board reported that A.A. Publishing, Inc. had been renamed A. A. World Services, Inc.
    “The Sense of the Meeting” report was titled “Need For Improved Internal and External Communications Was Dominant Theme.”
    Advisory actions included:

    that A. A World Services undertake a thorough study of the immediate and long-range needs for A. A. literature in languages other than English.

Today in A.A. History—April 20–26

In 1986, the 36th General Service Conference convened at the Hotel Roosevelt in New York City.
    Three new Class A Trustees were elected to the Board, each bringing a record of service and experience in their fields: Dr. John Smith (public health), Amos Reed (corrections), and John King (social work) [right, respectively].
    Among the 81 Advisory Actions were:    

• the Grapevine produce a trial tape in Spanish and a trial tape in French…;
  
• a definitive book on A.A. history from 1955-1985 be prepared…;
  
• as the preface to the Big Book clearly states that the text was written in 1939 and that it has not been changed, no further explanation regarding out-of-date phrases and/or gender-oriented pronouns or chapter titles is necessary;
  
• a story of a gay alcoholic not be included in the Big Book.